Ukrainian Winter Celebrations: Who Brings Presents to Ukrainian Children?
1 December 2025
About the lecture:
The topic of Christmas traditions is one of the most widely discussed in Ukrainian society. In some regions, it has been customary to exchange gifts on New Year’s Eve, while in others — on Christmas or on St. Nicholas Day. Since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war, some families have deliberately rejected the figure of Did Moroz (Grandfather Frost) as a character of Soviet and Russian propaganda, while others keep searching for a modern secular alternative. So who really brings gifts to Ukrainian children, and how did this tradition emerge?
- What was the actual role of St. Nicholas (Mykolai) in Ukrainian tradition, and when did he start bringing gifts to Ukrainian children?
- Is it true that Did Moroz is a Soviet invention, and what are the differences between him, St. Nicholas, and Santa Claus?
- How did the Soviet era influence festive culture — in particular, the reinterpretation of Did Moroz and the Christmas tree?
- Which traditions were shaped under the pressure of Soviet propaganda?
- In what ways were and are the figures of Mykolai and Did Moroz used as tools of political manipulation?
- What do those figures represent, and how are they perceived today?
This presentation explores the transformation of winter holiday traditions in Ukraine through the figures of magical gift-givers and reflects on what these characters represent in contemporary Ukraine and how they are perceived today in the context of cultural decolonization and the search for authentic traditions.
About the presenter:
Daria Antsybor is a research fellow at the State Scientific Center for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Against Man-Made Disasters in Kyiv, Ukraine. She studied folklore at the Institute of Philology in Kyiv National University of Taras Shevchenko. Her dissertation was dedicated to the genres of the oneiric folklore. She specializes in wartime folklore, vernacular medicine, crisis humour and anthropology of dreams. She is a member of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore. She created a Telegram channel “Mushrooms, coffins and dissertations” promoting knowledge about traditional and modern cultural practices. She is a co-author of the anthropological podcast “Porobleno”. She wrote two non-fiction books “Under the pillow or under the tree: anthropological research of holidays” (Kyiv, Laboratoria 2023) and "Dreadlocks, battles and steels: two centuries of subcultures in Ukraine (Kyiv, Laboratoria 2024)". Currently she is examining the nature of crisis humour in Ukraine, vernacular healing practices on Polissia region and writing a new non-fiction book about Halloween and its connection to Ukrainian culture.